Employee Loyalty Drives Customer Satisfaction

Over 20% of Mickey’s total workforce of 374 employees have been with the company for at least 15 years, including 14 employees who have logged 30 or more years of Mickey service. Two employees – Gene Sikes and Willie Brown – have worked for Mickey for at least 4 decades, at 49 and 40 years, respectively. All 15-year-plus employees were recognized at the company’s annual holiday luncheon in December.

According to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, within the U.S. private business sector, workers in manufacturing jobs as of January 2014 had an average same-company tenure of 5.9 years. Overall, the median number of years that wage and salary workers had been with their current employer across all industries as of January 2014 was 4.6 years, unchanged from January 2012, the Bureau reported.

At Mickey, 43% of all employees have been with the company for at least 5 years as of the beginning of 2016.

Carl Mickey (left, 32 years) and Gene Sikes (49 years).

“Mickey Truck Bodies has been in business for 112 years, all privately- and family-owned,” says Dean Sink, President and CEO. “From the very beginning we have been an employee-first company because we knew that to be the best, we had to have the best employees. We provide our employees with a safe and comfortable work environment; we pay them well; and we offer them great benefits. We provide them with job security. Great employees make great products. Great products make for great customers. That formula has not only kept us in business for 112 years, it’s kept us on top.”

“I was out of work for a couple of months during the recession in 1974-’75 when Gene Sikes gave me an opportunity to go to work for Mickey,” recalls Willie. “I’ve had other offers since then, but I was very happy at Mickey so I never thought about leaving. It just wouldn’t feel right working for another company. I know I made the right decision. Most of those other companies are gone now. But Mickey is still here. So am I.”

Gene, who will reach the half-century Mickey mark in August, has stayed with the company “because I’ve always liked what I did, I’ve always liked the people, and I’ve always liked the way I was treated. I knew I could do anything I was asked to do and that one day I would be in charge of all manufacturing here, which I was. I was encouraged to grow as the company grew.”

Not only do employees want to work for Mickey, they also want to come to work every day. In 2015, 136 Mickey employees, or 36.3% of the total work force, posted a perfect attendance record for the full year, meaning they did not miss a single unexcused day of work.